Happy Halloween!

Have a great holiday, everyone.

A lovely weekend

Paul took me out to W.G. Grinders for dinner on Friday, and then we went to the laser light show at the science center. The main part of the show was U2 songs, then at the end we got to select the songs. It was really cool.

We didn't do too much this weekend, really. We got Paul's car back from his parents by meeting them at the Golden Corral which was okay but nothing too special, and we cleaned a little and watched a lot of The 4400, which we borrowed from Paul's mom. It's a good show. Alison came over on Saturday and told me all about her date on Thursday and we watched an episode of Firefly. Paul and I went to the gaming store so I could order the next Gunslinger Girl manga for him. Paul got a box of minis and he gave me the small copper dragon he pulled out because he has one already. He got a huge black dragon with a sorcerer riding it. He was really happy with his haul.

It was a nice relaxing weekend. And now I'm back at work for today and tomorrow, then I have classes, then I'm going to have Friday off to practice and study and write. At least that's the plan. Then on Saturday it's World D&D Day!!

My nightmare

Betsy's post reminded me that I had a pretty crap dream of my own yesterday morning. It was really weird. Paul and I were walking around a museum or something, and when we walked out the door, we were on a high terrace around the building. There was another terrace below, but no stairs down. No rails either. The next platform did slowly loop down to the ground, which I could barely see. We were really high up, and in a jungle or something.

I started ranting about the lack of stairs, and Paul defended the museum's design and said that I had to get over my fear. I forget exactly what I was supposed to be afraid of. The height didn't bother me. I didn't want to jump down, but that was because of jumping down off of things being hard on my knees. Paul scoffed and said it was only three feet and jumped down. He was at least a head below me, so it was more than three feet, but I didn't think of that in the dream. I was angry, but I followed him. As I landed, my foot slipped off the terrace. I managed to grab onto a door handle, but then the door started to swing out, so I was still falling. I was clinging there, begging Paul to help me and half-panting, half-crying. He refused and said that it was something I had to do myself.

I pulled myself up then stormed away. Then I woke up.

I think Betsy's dream was definitely worse, though. Even though Paul was being a dick, he still knew who I was. *shudder* High School again. Betsy's right about that, too. I wouldn't want to go back for fear of changing something. I'm happy just as I am, too.

One year ago today...

Happy Birthday to Adam who doesn't read this ever.

It's also my first ever real aniversary! Paul and I are going out to dinner tonight. I'm looking forward to it. *happy dance*

I had two tests yesterday. I'm pretty sure I passed both of them. So woot. On Wednesday we practiced legs and backs and talked about stuff. On Tuesday I stayed home from work and did laundry and hung out with Alison and Diane and we had fun and Diane and I practiced on Alison and we talked a lot and it was good and I have new friends and that makes me happy.

I also ran D&D on Tuesday. They killed a vampire. Killed it good.

Speaking of D&D, World D&D Day is next Saturday. Paul and I are running the premade adventure at the gaming store on Liberty Avenue. Everyone who shows up will get a free medium copper dragon mini. How awesome is that?? I took the herald test thingie on the RPGA website, so I'm all official now, too. I'm really hoping that this whole gaming day goes really well at the store because if it does I might have a slightly better chance of getting a new job.

I really don't want to be here today. And my belly hurts a little.

But I'm getting my massage table soon and I have a date tonight and tomorrow is Saturday. My house is also still pretty clean and there's not even a full load of dirty laundry. So, overall, I'm winning.

Jars of pasta sauce explode when dropped.

Well, I don't know about you people, but I had a good weekend. I'm still loving massage therapy, and I got a lot of practice this weekend because I have a table that I borrowed from the school because my table still isn't in yet. Paul's computer finally came on Friday, it should have been in on Thursday, but the UPS guy sucks at life and went to Atlantic instead of Pacific. But now Paul has a computer and is happy and is playing City of Heroes and World of Warcraft.

We also walked down to the gaming store on Friday. Paul bought me minis and magic cards with unicorns on them. I asked the guy about a job, but he can't afford to hire anyone yet. So I must bide my time...and make sure he gets lots of business.

On Saturday, Paul and I went to his parents' to switch his car for theirs so that his can get inspected and stuff. I gave his mom a massage (only back of the legs and back so far because that's what I'm supposed to be practicing) and his parents took us out for dinner at Red Lobster.

When we got home I practiced again on Paul's back and we watched Studio 60 because we taped it the last two weeks because it's on late. Speaking of tv, HEROES IS ON TONIGHT!! YAY!! Best show on tv. Really. If you're not watching it, you need to start.

On Sunday we went grocery shopping. Yay groceries! Paul dropped a jar of red sauce and it exploded. The Giant Eagle people were on him in an instant, wanting to knkow if he was okay and cleaning up the mess. They insisted that he take a free thing of laundry detergent because of the sauce all over his clothes. That's some customer service, right there. Definitely not a "you break it, you bought it" mindset.

Then we went to my grandma's house for dinner and frozen meat. She's getting 1/4 of beef, and she needs room in her freezer. Our freezer is now packed to capacity. It shouldn't all have fit. But I'm magical. Well, to be fair, I did give some meat to Grant and Wendy. But still. Our freezer is holding more than it really has a right to. I took the table up to Grandma's and gave her a massage, too. Getting the table in and out of a four-door car is much easier than it is transporting it in a two-door. Going to apointments carrying my table is going to be an adventure.

Then we came home and I cleaned. Grant brought the Roomba over and it vaccuumed about half of the total carpet space before it got tired and gave up. So it'll have to finish tonight. But. The apartment. Is actually. Clean. The cupboards are organized, the freezer is perfectly in line, the closet doors are all closed, the bed is made--the only area out of order is my desk, and I'll get to that tomorrow. We also have about 100 loads of laundry to do, but I'm going to get to that tomorrow, too.

I'm going to talk to my boss today about cutting back to two days per week. It'll cut my paycheck by a third, but I need a day to clean and do laundry and write and study and do homework. Wish me luck.

Boston Trip, etc.

Well, I went to Boston last week. I went with a coworker named Gretchen who's a nice enough girl, even though we don't have much in common. At all. We didn't have any meetings on Monday (since it was a holiday and people weren't in their offices) so we went to Salem. It was pretty neat. Very new-agey and historical. We went to the Witch History Museum, the Witch Dungeon Museum, and the Pirates of New England Museum. The pirate one was the best, but they were all cool. I bought myself a couple of t-shirts and some earings.

We had a lot of meetings over the next two days and they went okay, some of them might buy space. But I didn't talk much, Gretchen just took over. I'm not any good at my job, really. I just don't think like someone who wants to sell people stuff. I don't know how much longer I can take working here. It's an okay environment, but I'm just not suited for it.

I went to class on Thursday and Friday. I love class. I ordered a massage table on Friday, and it's going to be the most amazing and wonderful table ever. It's the softest one, and it has breast recesses for the ladies (I thought they were a silly idea till I tried them) and it's going to be like getting a massage on a happy magic cloud. I am excited.

We're learning how to massage the back of the leg and I have to memorize all of the bones in the foot. It's great. The people from the Thursday-Friday class are nice, but I'm glad that I'm in Wednesday-Thursday. We're the best.

I am sick, though. I started feeling it on Friday and it's gotten worse over the weekend. Is a cold. A crappy crappy headcold. I can't breathe. Paul is getting sick too, I'm not sure if he's getting it from me or if its something else.

We went to Kennywood on Saturday night for Fright Nights. It was a lot of fun. It waas freeeeeeezing. But we had a good time. We went up and visited my grandparents and parents yesterday. Things between my parents and Paul are still awkward, but everyone was nice. At least whenever I was around.

That's all for now.

Starting school, crazy squirels, and other interesting things

I had class on Wednesday and Thursday this week. On Wednesday, we had Sweedish Massage followed by Alexander Technique. Our Sweedish teacher is pretty cool. And the class is awesome because we were on the tables the first day. We learned how to do all kinds of effleurage and pettrisage. (French spelling sucks) She also taught us a neat trick with towels if you don't have a table handy. Alexander Techinque is just neat--it's all about thinking about how your body acutally lines up and how you should actually be balanced. I learned that I tend to carry my head too far forward because I don't really think about where my neck actually attaches to my skull.

Yesterday, my first encounter was with the squirel that lives on our building. We sometimes see him on the fire escape. He was perched on the power line that runs into the building. And when I came around the corner he glared down at me and made a MEAAAAA sound. I stared. He did it again. I thought for a sec that he was electrocuting himself. But then he jumped off that line and onto the one that winds around the side of the building. He had his two left legs clinging to the top and the rest of his body dangling down as he scurried/shuffled along. It was very odd to watch. After a minute he managed to pull himself up, but then he fell down sideways again. Then he stopped and MEAAAAAA'd at me again. Then I had to leave to get to class. It was very strange.

Then I had Anatomy, which wasn't as bad as I expected. The teacher is a chiropractor named Dr. Zdilla, he's hilarious, which makes the class go faster. Then we had Principles of Touch which is all about ethics and the history of massage and breathing. So far I like all of my classes and all of the teachers. So woot.

And I'm making friends! Alison is really cool and works at whole foods, Diane lives in Spain with her Spanish husband, but is here because her husband is working for Westing House for the next six months, and Zach was an actor in Atlanta but moving to Pittsburgh derailed that career, and he personally knows Bruce Coville. I still can't quite wrap my head around that. I mean, I love Bruce Coville. It's crazy.

And now I'm back to work for Friday, then it's the weekend!

Look at me, I'm on the ball!

I wrote a story this morning and I sent it to Lance to read. This is what he had to say. "Evil death unicorns? Damn. Unexpected." And I am delighted. The story needs work, but I'm happy about it anyway.